Nexans partners with Bel Stewart to develop a Cat7 Jack for active equipment

According to the agreement Nexans and Bel Stewart will collaborate by combining the strengths of both companies - Nexans' expertise in high-frequency connector performance and Bel Stewart's experience of high-volume production for active-equipment manufacturers - to ensure a quick time-to-market, whilst also delivering compatibility between their respective product ranges.

Speaking on this partnership, Mr. Tarek Helmy, Regional Director Gulf & Middle East, Nexans Cabling Solutions, says," Nexans always believes in offering the best-of-breed cabling solutions to our customers. We have been receiving tremendous response for our GG45 connectors, which is the only Category 7 connector to receive the ISO and CENELEC certifications. Our partnership with Bel Stewart is an appropriate response to the rising demand for GG45 solutions from the active equipment suppliers who have started to actively look for next generation interfaces. This will allow both firms to offer a comprehensive product range."

"Nexans and Bel Stewart are already producing components using the GG45 interface for copper cabling (GG45 IEC60603-7-7) and our R&D teams have now joined forces to develop an 8-way PCB-mounted connector especially designed for active-equipment manufacturers. This partnership also makes Nexans the only manufacturer in the world to offer the RJ45 based Category 7 GG45 connector," Mr. Helmy adds.

Nexans' GG45 Cat7 Connectors: the preferred solution in the marketplace
Both companies will market the product independently, Bel Stewart under the name ARJ45, and Nexans under GG45. The partnership represents a major endorsement of the GG45 specification developed by Nexans, which has established itself as the preferred solution in the marketplace. A recent CRU study cites Nexans' GG45 Cat7 Connectors as "proving to be the more popular choice to date" among the available 'true' Cat7 connector versions.

Martin Rossbach, Director Product Marketing Nexans Cabling Solutions comments: "The drastically increased interest for high frequency RJ45 form compatible connectors is mainly caused by the new development for 10 Gigabit over Twisted Pair cables. The 8-way Cat7 PCB jack will address this need with the highest performance available in the market place".

Derek Imschweiler, Product Manager Bel Stewart adds: "Interoperability is a crucial factor in the highly competitive structured cabling market, which makes this joint-venture all the more significant as it represents the only proven intermatable offering for Category 7a proposed by independent manufacturers. That is why we are very proud of this partnership".